This article makes a great introductory survay of the issues of veracity as history in the Buddhist Canon.

This is done as this essay is a point by point refutation of another paper that claimed that the Buddhist Canon can not speak for Buddhist history prior to the commentaries composed in the 3rd and 4th centuries CE.

It is interesting, especially the discussion about the two teachers Alara Kalama and Udraka Ramaputta contains interesting information that I haven't heard before. From the existence of a tree you can with certainty deduce that there has been a seed, the first tiny leaf, a sprout, etc... in the past. All in all Bhagavan Shakyamuni says that Dharma is a method, when you have applied His method you can even fly in space, stroke the sun and the moon that are so powerful with your hand,.. You can see your past incarnations, You can see the past causes that have led to the present situation,.. What have You seen with Your extra sensory & purified transcendental vision? Does it accord at all with these various speculations about the past history?